Vultures

Vultures is a poem that makes me shiver. I've always wondered what I would have done, had I had the choice of whether to go along with Nazism, or to fight against it. I like to think I'd have fought, but I can't be sure. None of us can be sure until we come up against the real situations. It's like Not My Business - a man can ignore the wrongs being done as long as he has food on the table, or can take sweeties home for the children.
I think it's the choice of words that make it most chilling - the contrast betwen affection and despair, a charnel house or Belsen, and a roost, a nest, a home.

This Room

Seems to me that Dharker wrote this poem when she came to a big change in her life, and one which made her feel excited, not to say ecstatic.
I love the way she uses alliteration - all those "c" words, like crack, crash, clang, crowd, clouds to give the impression of noise and something breaking. It reminds me of Blessing - which also
uses onomatopoeia to create excitement and a mood of celebration.
I've found a few sites which analyse the poem in detail (maybe a bit more detail than I needed!)